I'm back. Miss me? As I said, the break probably wouldn't affect publication much.
You’d be forgiven when this album starts for thinking that maybe you’d put on Nick Drake by mistake, with a delicate jazz-folk fusion of acoustic guitar backed by electric piano or saxophone. And that’s because the opening track, also called Solid Air, was written by Martyn as a tribute to his friend Nick Drake. Drake at this time was suffering from depression, but had yet to take the accidental overdose of anti-depressants that killed him. Martyn’s voice is a deep mumble, however, compared to Drake’s breathy whisper.
The Drake feeling continues on the tracks Over The Hill, with jaunty mandolin from Richard Thompson, I Don’t Want To Know, And Go Down Easy where Martyn’s voice sounds more like Drake’s higher notes. Thompson is one of several Fairport Convention musicians to appear on this album, including two of the Daves – Pegg on bass and Mattacks on drums (but not Swarbrick on fiddle).
When we get to I’d Rather Be The Devil, however, things become a bit more electrical, with a kind of funky guitar played through reverb as if U2’s The Edge was working with Isaac Hayes. Dreams By The Sea leans even harder into the funk, and here I’m led more towards Tim Buckley. Unlike Buckley and Drake, however, Martyn at least had more recognition during his life even if his solo work is perhaps overlooked.
This gets labelled as genres such as folk jazz, folk rock, and folk psychedelia, but I’d call it “Folk Plus” - mostly folk, but plus some extra styles that elevate it to the unique. It took me a couple of listens, the first time there was too much background noise to truly appreciate it, this is one of those albums to listen to carefully. It doesn’t feature anything flashy, but wears its brilliance quietly – listen to the interplay between Martyn’s guitar and Danny Thompson’s bass on the final track The Easy Blues, for example. Simple yet glorious.
Comments
Post a Comment